Jul 22, 2013

Creating Master Page with HTML Templates in SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 has many new and improved design features for designing and branding it. In SP 2013, a new concept called Design Manager has been introduced where all the site branding is managed. The following article explains the step by step process of converting HTML Master Pages for using Design Manager and using the converted Master Page for the site collections.

Steps:
     1.   Create a Site Collection using Central Administration
     2.   Go to the Site Settings -> Enable SharePoint Publishing Feature in Site Collection Feature (Site Collection Administration -> Site Features) and Site Features level (Site Actions -> Site Features) as shown below:


    3.   Go to Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> Master Pages and Page Layouts
    4.   I have created a folder called Custom Master Page inside the Master Pages and Page Layouts Folder and uploaded the HTML, CSS, JS, Images in the folder
    5.   Now navigate to Site Settings -> Look and Feel -> Design Manager -> Edit Master Pages -> Click Convert an existing HTML to Master Page 
  6.   Once converted you will see the converted Master Page in the List with the status Conversion Successful and make sure it is approved and published.
    7.   Now navigate to Site Settings -> Look and Feel -> Page Layouts and Site Templates select the Custom master Page created and use it for the site collection.
For branding in SP 2010 we need good web designing skills (HTML, CSS and JS). But in SP 2013 it has made very simple and easy! 

Jul 8, 2013

Audit Logging in SharePoint 2013

Audit Logging gives the following information in Site Collection:

  1. Opening or downloading documents, viewing items in lists, or viewing item properties
  2. Editing items
  3. Checking out or checking in items
  4. Moving or copying items to another location in the site
  5. Deleting or restoring items
  6. Editing content types and columns
  7. Searching site content
  8. Editing users and permissions
Below are the steps to achieve:                                                                 
       1. Go to Central Administration -> Manage Service Applications


    2. Choose Secure Store Service 
 

    3. Then Click on the Properties in the Ribbon
4. In the Enable Audit option Select the Check Box Audit Log Enabled (the default value is 30 days and it can be changed)
5After enabling the Audit Logging in Central Administration, we have to configure the audit settings at the site collection level and below are the steps:
Go to Site Settings -> Site Collection Administration -> Site Collection Audit Settings 
Under this settings, select the settings as shown below:

 Now, Audit Logging is configured for the site and now you can view the following types of Reports.
Checking the Reports Generated for the Site Collection
Go to Site Collection Administration -> Audit Log Reports
Once you click on any reports, it will ask for the Report Save location. Select any of the Libraries to store the Report.
Example Report Generated Screenshot:
 
 Select an Library to store the Report and Click OK
Report Generated in Excel

Hope this article helps you in understanding the Audit Logging in SharePoint 2013. Please feel free to share and comment about this post if it helps you.

Mar 19, 2013

Unexpected error occurred while communicating with Administration Service

Scenario:
I ran into the following issue when attempting to access  Fast search features such as:
1. FAST Search keywords
2. Fast Search site promotion and demotion
3. Fast search user context

Solution:
I checked my Administrators group in the SP server. Fast Search ADMIN account configured is added in the Administrators group. Though I am unable to access these features.
Then found the resolution from a TechNet article.
1.   Create a group named FASTSearchKeywordAdministrators in the SP server (this group is not automatically created during default installation).
2.   Add the Fast Search ADMIN account (account configured for fast search) to this group.
Then tried accessing the features and everything works as expected.

Mar 2, 2013

Sign in as different user in SharePoint 2013

In all the versions of SharePoint, we have option for signing in as different user which helps us in various scenarios. Also, it helps in testing purposes.
But in SharePoint 2013, we do not have this option. 

In this article we will know how to achieve this:

1. When you log in to a SharePoint site, you don't have sign in as different user option which is shown as below:

2. To overcome this limitation either we have to sign in to the IE as different user and then we can log in to the SharePoint site as different user.
3. To achieve this in SharePoint (which is like option in older versions of SharePoint), we need to modify the welcome.ascx which is present in the 15 hive of SharePoint server.
4. Navigate to the below path and find the welcom.ascx file.
C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES
5. Open the file in the visual studio or in the notepad and add the following code above the tag which has ID_RequestAcess as shown below:

<SharePoint:MenuItemTemplate runat="server" ID="ID_LoginAsDifferentUser" Text="<%$Resources:wss,personalactions_loginasdifferentuser%>"
Description="<%$Resources:wss,personalactions_loginasdifferentuserdescription%>"
MenuGroupId="100"
Sequence="100"
UseShortId="true"
/>

 6. Save the file and now refresh the site, you will see the SharePoint page with option "Sign in as different user" option as shown below:


 Hope this helps you. Please free to comment. It helps me to write more.

Snipping Tool in Windows Server 2012

Snipping tool is very nice tool for capturing the screens which comes with latest versions of Windows. In this article lets see how to enable the snipping tool in Windows Server 2012.

Snipping tool is not installed in the default installation of Windows OS. We have to enable it manually.

Steps:
1. Go to Server Manager -> Manage Features -> Features -> Select DESKTOP EXPERIENCE under user interfaces and infrastructure -> Next -> Feature will be installed and it will ask for restarting the server.
2. Restart the server and log in to the server. Under Windows accessories you will see the Snipping tool installed.
Screenshots for reference:




Hope this helps you!